title: Coenzyme Q10: blood levels and metabolic demand.
abstract: Blood levels of CoQ10 were found to be lower in patients affected by hyperthyroidism and in athletes during a severe training period. In patients who had received a kidney transplant decreasing CoQ10 levels were found, during the first 30 min after transplant, in the blood leaving the newly transplanted organ. No decrease was detectable in patients who had received the kidney from a sibling. It may reasonably be hypothesized that the ischaemia/reperfusion damage is responsible for a certain degree of impoverishment of CoQ10, leading to a CoQ10 uptake from perfusing blood. A comparable trend was also evident in liver transplants. Low CoQ10 plasma levels may therefore reflect increased metabolic needs from various tissues, on the basis of increased overall metabolic rate and/or peroxidative damage.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: G P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Littarru
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lippa
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Oradei
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Serino
mesh_terms: D003067:Coenzymes; D006801:Humans; D006980:Hyperthyroidism / Q000097:blood; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000502:physiology*; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000502:physiology*; D005082:Physical Exertion / Q000502:physiology; D014451:Ubiquinone / Q000097:blood* / Q000031:analogs & derivatives
chemical_list: D003067:Coenzymes; D014451:Ubiquinone; C024989:coenzyme Q10